This Does Not End Neatly
by maebyfunkebluth
Summary: AU after prefirst season, set in the future. Lilly never died, but someone else did and she reunites with Veronica to solve the mystery behind it. Rated Teen just to be safe for future chapters, but if you want future chapters then please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

This is set in the future and is AU for both seasons. This is a WIP, but I will only post the next chapter is there is actual interest, so please review if you want me to keep writing this. Thanks! 

Veronica speed walked past a reporter, nearly decapitating a paparazzi. "God, life is just so, good. I just can't tell you how amazingly everything's going!" Lilly let out a giggle and the star-struck media paused to wipe up the drool that's escaped from their mouths. "Ohmigod Veronica! Hey! I haven't seen you in _forever!_ How's life?" "Just peachy," Veronica replied, her mouth a tense line, "Why don't we adjourn to the sitting room for a _special_ conference?" "Whatever you want babe," Lilly replied and hopped up from the chair where she had been sitting demurely. Veronica pulled the door shut behind her. "OK, spill V, cause those bloodhounds outside are going nowhere fast and I need to dazzle them with my beau-tay before they go scurrying back to their offices."

"Lilly. So nice to see you. I thought you'd reward me for coming to see you. Maybe with a biscuit perhaps. After all, you know I live to serve you. Just put the collar on me now and then we'll get this over with."

"OK, so basically I have the best scoop ever. It's like the answer you've been looking for your entire life. So nothing important. Now heel and I'll take you somewhere a little more private. And you know I would only call if something really important happened."

"Yes, I know that you would never call unless something happened to you. God forbid that you just call to say hi once in a while. Or even once a year. I haven't talked to you in over three years Lilly, and you want me to act like we still have sleepovers every other night?"

"I've been busy."

"With what? Sleeping with my boyfriend's father? Just because you're jealous does not give you the right to do that to Logan."

"Well there's a name I haven't heard in forever. And you know what, Veronica Mars, not everything's about you. And also, I really don't think you want to bring _Logan_ into this conversation."

"Don't worry, I'm sure that there's plenty of other people that you've hurt while living the glamorous life in L.A., or New York, or wherever the hell your private jet needs to take you."

"Oh, Veronica you might want to tone it down a little bit. This is definitely bringing out the green in your eyes."

"Well, I guess we all can't be Tara Reid can we."

"God Veronica, when did you become such a bitch."

"What, are you proud that I finally learned something from you? And to answer your question, I guess that would be about… hm… well I guess when your brother died. My boyfriend. But I guess you wouldn't really remember that time would you. You were too busy making my life hell."

"No that would be Logan. Remember him? Your ever loving boyfriend?"

"Which brings me back to the point. His father Lilly? How long has that been going on? Sophomore year? Freshman year?"

"What do you think gives you the right to say anything about that. Could you be more assuming? I know you're little Miss Nancy Drew, but come on, you don't know everything."

"I found the tapes Lilly."

"What tapes."

"Don't play dumb with me Lilly, the tapes of you two in bed. From six years ago."

"That dirty little bastard. Well, here comes the part where I tell you that Aaron Echolls is the reason you're here. Duncan? Yes I remember him. With that video being passed around on his anniversary every year how could I forget. But I have something to tell you. Aaron is the one who murdered Duncan."

Please review, and tell me if you want to see more of this story. (I would insert an emocion here, preferrably a smiley face) 


	2. Part Deux

Please review if you want me to add the next chapter. There hasn't been much interest in this and I really want to know if I should keep posting. Also if I make any typo's I would love to know so I can fix them. Thanks!

Lilly opened the door and pranced out of the small room, walking into the open lobby where the press was sitting. "Everyone, you know I just hate to cut this short, but I have some important stuff to catch up with my old friend. You know I love all you guys! Mwahh!" Lilly led Veronica outside and into her black BMW where she took the wheel and began driving toward an unknown location. Veronica and Lilly sat in uncomfortable silence, something new to their relationship. Flashing lights and mansions passed them by, and the awkardness was becoming stifling. Veronica cleared her throat.

"What." Lilly snapped. "I was just wondering if you were going to tell me where we were going or not. In case you don't, do you want me to wear a blindfold, so that when you throw my unconscious body out of the car in the middle of some forest, I won't be able to find my way back to civilization and I'll starve to death?" Veronica asked. "Don't be naïve," Lilly replied. "There are no forests in L.A."

Lilly got out of the car and held open the door for Veronica to get out. "Fireproof Storage Units?" Veronica read off the side of the big brick building they had stopped in front of. "Good to know you're putting those P.I. skills to use," Lilly said, "And this is where I've been keeping all of Donut's stuff. Mommy and Daddy Kane wanted to get rid of all his shit, and so I "inherited" it."

"You inherited quite a lot." Veronica said, walking up the concrete sidewalk to the imposing double doors of the building. "You're an heiress now, aren't you? God, Celeste must be shaking in her boots right now." Lilly ignored her and flung open the doors.

The inside of the building was a drab gray and behind the receptionist's desk an elderly woman was snoring gently. "Why did we need to come here?" Veronica asked. "For dramatic suspence, of course." Lilly answered matter-of-factly. She dug through her Louis Vutton purse and came up with a key. She rang the bell on the desk impatiently. The woman only turned her head over and let out a snore. She pressed the bell again harder and it let out a shrill bringgggg.

"Helloo? Ever heard of customer service?" She grumbled and harumphed irritatedly. Veronica reached over the formica and tapped the lady on the shoulder. She woke immediately with a "HowmayIhelpyou?" Veronica followed Lilly up a flight of stairs into a room filled with brown boxes.

The lighting was dim and flickering, and Lilly was right, there was something mysterious about the small room filled with artifacts from the past. Veronica almost felt that if she searched hard enough she could find some important clue that she'd missed. She didn't need to look that far.

"All right," said Lilly, "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. We both know that Abel Koontz didn't off my dearly departed brother. And from the rumors I've heard, you have been looking into who did since high school. So spill. What do you know?"

"Nothing much." Said Veronica, "There was a pair of Duncan's shoes found in Abel's houseboat that were in Duncan's room after the fact. They showed up on some of the crime scene photos. Someone had to have moved them after Duncan was murdered. Why would Koontz sneak back in to the crime scene get a pair of shoes? Also although I don't agree with my father, Jake and Celeste weren't together at the Neptune Grand, which scratches both of their alibis."

"Oh yes, your father. The town scape-goat. Haven't talked to him since he arrested my dad for murder."

"Moving on now thank you very much, you don't have an alibi either. That parking ticket that Duncan got moves the time of the murder much later. You had already left the carwash by then."

"Whatever. We both know I didn't do it, and what you said doesn't help anything. Plus I know you've been dying to hear about what I said about Aaron. Am I right or what?" Lilly gave a dazzling smile and Veronica sighed. "That wasn't a rhetorical question Veronica, but whatever. I can deal. So you want to know why I think Aaron did it?" Veronica tried to cut in. "Uh, uh, Veronica that was _not_ a rhetorical question. It's my turn to talk. So you want to know why I think Aaron did it? Well I'll just pretend you said yes, because I don't need to hear you talk, you've done enough of that. There's always been something like just, _off_, with Aaron, and not just the fact that he totally beats on Logan. Yes I know about that. Well whenever we're together he just seems like he's laughing at something I don't know about. And when I was looking through Duncan's stuff, I found a picture of him and me together. Like it was printed out from a computer. It was a freeze frame of us in bed. I have no idea how he got it, probably from one of your tapes Veronica, where did you find them again?" "In Logan's house. The poolroom." "Well that's where the picture was taken." Lilly rummaged around in one of the boxes, pulling out a sheet pf paper with a picture of Aaron, grinning and on top of her.

Thanks, now please review, I'm begging you!


	3. Part Tres

Hey, please keep reading, and please please REVIEW! It's the only way I can improve my stories and my writing style, and even if you think this story is crap please at least post some way that I could salvage it. So that's my rant, now here's my story. Thanks!

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Veronica sat on a somewhat sturdy packing box and breathed deeply. It seemed fitting somehow that Lilly was the one to solve the mystery of Duncan Kane, but she was unsettled and upset. Why wasn't it her that figured it out. It was probably best if she didn't linger. But Aaron Echolls? Somehow it made perfect sense. Earlier on she had discovered that Duncan had a type of epilepsy that was prone to giving him raging fits of anger. Duncan must've discovered the truth about Lilly and Aaron's relationship from the tapes hidden in Logan's pool house, and flown into a jealous fit.

She could imagine it now, Duncan standing by the pristine pool, the water casting reflections, the light playing on his face. Aaron would've been there to find Lilly about the tapes that were missing. Duncan confronting him, yelling about how he didn't deserve Lilly, that he was a disgusting old pervert. She could see Aaron's ever present smile turn into a grimace as he asked Duncan what he knew about them anyway. Duncan yelling that he had the tapes of them, his face turning red and the volume of his voice rising. Then as the sun beat down she could see Aaron grab the ashtray that was just sitting there innocently and smashing it into Duncan's temple. She knew all too well the now famous image, Duncan Kane lying on the marble tile, his eyes open wide and dead, blood seeping down the side of his head onto his soccer uniform.

She knew what happened moments after too. Lilly finding the body and sinking into an almost catatonic state, probably the only time in her life when she shut up. Jake and Celeste returning home from the Neptune Grand, where Jake had been with her mother. Them finding Lilly kneeling next to Duncan's corpse and calling Clarence Weidman, then the sheriff. Veronica herself arriving, and the rest was history. Her father who persecuted the wrong man, that blurry night where Lilly handed her a drink that definitely wasn't soda, Logan's mother committing suicide. That was when she and Logan grew close, and Lilly couldn't deal with _her _Logan being taken away by Veronica, the girl with whom she had entrusted her life's experience.

To Lilly it was a personal affront to her that Veronica had rose from her criticism and catty remarks and somehow managed to steal her boyfriend. Never mind the fact that Lilly was cheating on Logan with a different person every night, Eli Navarro one day, Casey Gant the other. She moved away to be in showbiz and managed to keep a civil relationship with Veronica, once Lilly realized that Veronica didn't want any of her fame.

Then Veronica and Logan revived their on again off again relationship that seemed to be on more than off, and decided that it was the best either of them could get, the best that anyone could get. Lilly didn't realize that they weren't together because they were utterly and completely lost without each other, all she saw was revenge, and believed that they were together to spite her.

But life got more exciting for Lilly as the first movie gig rolled in (Murder at the Paradise Motel) and the second, (Cheerleading Zombies of the Doomed) and soon she was what she always wanted to be. Famous. She was too good for the little people and never called Veronica anymore except when she was wasted from some new designer drug and called to bitch about stealing her boyfriend or when she was completely sober and mechanical sounding and her personal assistant reminded her send Christmas cheer.

So when Lilly called and left a message on her voicemail, all whispery and gushing, how Lilly used to sound when she told Veronica about her latest conquest back in high school, Veronica was pissed off. But now Veronica isn't mad, isn't angry. She's just shocked and more then a little disappointed. This was her case, it was the retribution _she _was after, and when she solved the mystery all the other pieces of her life would just fall into place. But that's never going to happen now, probably never was. But life just didn't work out that way, she guessed.

"So, how long will it be before we can put that lying murderer away?"

- - - - - -

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Ok, so now you know what to do right? I'll give you a clue: starts with R and ends with EVIEW...


	4. 4

Hey, this story hasn't been generating much interest, and after the second season finale it's hard to write this because there's a bunch of other stuff I'm working on. So this will probably end soon (a couple more chapters) but it might be a while before I can post more.

So please review because I'd love some feedback for anything you'd like to see incorporated into the story. Also I pretty much suck at typing and spell-check only gets so much so point out grammer too. Thanks in advance!

Veronica was going to be crying tears of jealousy all the way home, and Lilly Kane was headed to a completely awesome party jam-packed with beautiful people and tons of reporters dying for the scoop. All Lilly had to do was move her pinky and someone would be at her side salivating from the fact that they were breathing the same air as her.

She was planning to announce the scandal of the year, no scratch that, the _millennium, _there and she knew exactly how to scrunch her eyes up to give herself that tragic-eyed wronged-heroine look. Her limo service was a speed-dial away, but apparently Carlos had gotten into a fender bender and all the other drivers were on strike. Lilly would've called BS, but she needed to be there fashionably late not _late_ late, of course whenever she got there wouldn't be fashionable but _still_.

She got into her car and pulled off her slightly sensible top, exchanging it for something with half as much material. If she flashed the Rent-a-cop, well then wasn't this his lucky day.

Seeing Veronica was strange, and it reminded her of times when the Fab Four still were the overlords of the hallways. Pedicures and Spice Girls, loathing and deception.

It was ironic how unhappy Veronica seemed, because she'd gotten everything. The boy, which Lilly didn't really need anymore because those were just paving the road to her mansion, the friends (she knew she had these because Veronica had pulled out her cell phone when they were saying their goodbyes and she sounded almost like her old self talking to Winston or someone and she mentioned Mac with a special tone to her voice), and she had respect.

All of these things Lilly knew she could deal without having. They required work, commitment, trust, and blah and blah. Lilly was a superstar and she didn't have to work for anything. But a long long time ago, before the first boyfriend, before the first time she became disillusioned with life, and even the first kiss, Lilly had wanted those things. She wanted princes and best friends for life (BFFL) and parents with unconditional love (in the form of a pony, of course).

Veronica was happy on the inside, Lilly could tell. And it was ironic because Lilly was the Uh-Oh Oreo version of that. The smile plastered on her face 24/7 was hard to keep up, and although the Botox helped, she was becoming afraid the ugly cracks in her mind would start showing up on her face.

Simple things made her happy sure, like random vacations to luxurious resorts that ended in some hottie's bed and involved mucho tequila. But other stuff that she had to deal with made her feel like sleeping for a very long time and not waking up until she was old and couldn't remember how evil people were.

Lilly Kane's life was not as amazingly fun as it seemed and that kind of sucked. But Lilly wasn't going to let a bit of pleasure get away from her and if that meant rubbing in to Veronica's face that it was ditzy her that solved the mystery, then so be it.

Lilly adjusted the rearview mirror and screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw the man sitting in her backseat.

OK, so please please review! I'm new so I'd love some constructive remarks. C'mon, do it for the children!


	5. The Finale

Here is the final chapter. I'm a little uncertain about this one, because it really takes the story in a new direction, so please review and tell me what you think of it.

"I take it you weren't expecting me," Aaron Echolls drawled. "It is a pretty unexpected visit. Of all the gin joints in the world..."

"You're in my car," Lilly replied bluntly, letting a sharp edge of distaste enter her tone. "Please tell me why the hell you are in my car before I call the police?"

"Oh, come on Lilly. I always pegged you for smarter than that. Well, no I didn't. It never was about the conversation with you wasn't it," his voice sounded obscene, and Lilly gagged, her stomach turning.

"Mr. Echolls, please answer my question. After all, we wouldn't want to let the media know about your adolescent girl fantasies would we? I mean when I first heard about those tapes I was a little turned on. You're pretty kinky aren't you? I'm sure your adoring fans would love to hear just how kinky you are."

He chuckled. "Lilly," he said, drawing out all the L's and making the sound reverberate through his chest, "You know exactly what I know that you know." And he chuckled again to himself.

"That I shouldn't have worn this top with these pants? It's okay, I'll change at the party."

"I've been having you followed Lilly."

"I'm sure you have," she replied sarcastically. She had the best security in the biz, he was bluffing. He must've found out about Veronica coming and drove off to see her to make sure nothing unsavory happened regarding the Duncan Kane murder investigation he didn't know she was having. All right he had her followed. Damn it, she was sick of playing games with him.

"I know it was you." There, short and too the point. He had to accept that, and if he didn't, her thumb was on the speed dial to the head of security.

But then his hands were reaching for her head, and she had to do something. She checked her seatbelt. Shit, this was going to leave a bruise that she would have to have airbrushed out of her photo shoot Wednesday. She swerved the car, hard and it careened off the road wildly, only stopping when it rammed into a tree.

She came to with her face dangerously close to hers. Her new car was smoking, the front completely demolished. Goody! She thought. She'd been looking for an excuse to get one of those cute new Mercedes convertibles. Then she realized she was trapped in a car with a psychopath. Crap, she thought. I _so_ didn't wear the right shoes for this. She slipped off her stilettos and prepared to take off. But her cell phone had fallen into the crevice between his legs and the car. She kneeled uncomfortably, hoping that he wouldn't move. She fished around with her hand between his feet and finally had to lean her whole body in under his legs. I've been in this position before, she thought, only last time it was much more fun. He moved a little and groaned. Yep, definitely been here before, she said dryly to herself. Her hand hit plastic and she grabbed her cell phone.

Not bothering to waste time calling someone when he could wake up at any moment she opened the car door and ran. Her breath hitched when she saw an abandoned house.

She ran to the door, almost in tears, because the run had taken a lot out of her, and she was sure her ankle was sprained at the least. She banged in it impatiently. God, people are never there when you need them. She turned back to the car and gasped when she saw the door open on the side where Aaron was supposed to be lying unconscious, blood pouring from his head.

This was a little too much like a bad horror movie, Lilly should know, she'd been in enough of them. She was an adult and no matter how many B-grade movie slasher victims she'd played didn't mean she'd turn into one. Right?

So when Lilly wandered, no, limped, around back and someone had pulled the curtains from the glass door, but the man who she thought would be her rescuer fell to the floor and Aaron's smirking face appeared, she thought she practically asked for it. And that was her last thought before his fist smashed though the glass, leaving her unconscious.

She was trapped and she began to- breathe-breathe-breathe, she told herself because for some strange reason she was hyperventilating. Calm down she told herself, which was weird because she was perfectly calm. But she could feel sweat drip down her cheek, see her heavy eyelashes filled with tears, and strangely her lungs were constricting so tightly she was sure that her face must be blue. Damn it! If her stupid freaking body wouldn't behave, how was she supposed to be able to sweet talk the man outside into letting her out? She was blonde, but not stupid, well _strawberry copper blonde_, or at least that's what her colorist had called it. She liked it, it went well with her skin tone, and the night she got it she realized that in high school she hadn't been that far off from the truth. Blondes really do have more fun. She isn't really sure why she was a brunette for all those years, maybe she wanted to make herself more serious for casting agents, and she was sexy with brown hair- and Oh My God! What the hell was she doing? She was having an internal monologue about her freaking _hair_ while a crazed movie star was about to kill her! Whatever. In her bio-pic there would definitely be some deep speech at this moment. But right now she needed to pull herself together and get the hell out of here.

"Get me out of here!" she yelled. "Where am I?"

"Funny story really. You see Freddy over there happened to have an empty refrigerator lying around. He seems like a bit of a pack rat if you ask me. Poor old Freddy. Well I don't know, do you think he looks more like a Freddy or a Johnny? He's lying over there is you want to take a look. Oh wait that's right! You can't see anything. Maybe if you hadn't stuck your nose in where it didn't belong you wouldn't be trapped inside some dusty refrigerator."

"You locked me in a freaking refrigerator!" she shrieked. "At least could you like brutally kill me with some respect? I thought that you got that Oscar for being brave and adventurous in your roles. What the hell is adventurous about locking some girl in a _freaking refrigerator_!" Her voice rose to a shrill pitch on the last two words, but inside of her plastic prison she smiled to herself. The Oscar always worked.

"Don't think you can play games with me little girl." His disembodied voice gave Lilly the creeps and she started rocking the fridge back and forth hoping for some form of release from the confined space.

He started lecturing her on some crap about someone famous that she didn't really remember from like French History or something. God, worst class ever. The refrigerator fell on it's side and somehow, someway Lilly was free.

She took off. Ran, just ran until she realized that he was right behind her. Damn those Hollywood personal trainers! She exclaimed. But she was unnerved at herself somewhat, because what kind of sick person makes jokes at a time like this? When she was in high school, she thought about death a lot. After her brother died she lied awake imagining how she would die. She imagined dying in the heat of passion, in a war-torn country with missiles flying, her last words a whispered "I love you". But that was too messy and there was a huge chance she wouldn't die, but become all burned and nasty and scarred and that would suck. Maybe she would die in her sleep, peacefully with her eyes closed and her body calm. But that was too boring, she needed a little excitement in her un-life. Maybe she would jump off a bridge, take her own life because her lover had wasted away from a disease, one that didn't leave them all greasy and gross looking, of course. But then her body would be all bloated, and knowing the media her decaying face would be on the cover of magazines and she just couldn't have that.

But now she was lying on the dirty road, her foot twisted, prone and weak. Lilly knew she wasn't like this, she was stronger than this, she was amazing and strong and beautiful. Who would ever kill her? She was awesome.

This situation, however wasn't a daydream or a rambling thought. She could hear death rushing through her soon-to-be-quieted veins. This was not how she wanted to die. But Aaron Echolls was holding a piece of metal pipe that she had seen lying in the yard of the not-so-abandoned house.

And although this wasn't romantic, wasn't even that original, something about it filled Lilly with an unbearable sense of déjà vu. She lay there in the spilt second before the pipe collided with her head and thought that this felt right. It wasn't how she wanted to die, not by a long shot, and she couldn't help be a little frightened. Even so, something just felt like it was falling into piece, like this was meant to be. Maybe Lilly Kane was amazing, awesome, larger than life, and pretty much the coolest. Because maybe, Lilly thought, she had some sort of destiny-type-thing. And although it sucked, maybe this was hers. Her fate or whatever. But then again, maybe this was the beginning. Those Hindus or whoever came up with reincarnation could be right. Maybe in her next life she would be like the first women president of the USA or something. Maybe she would even be an Oscar-winning actress. Screw that, thought Lilly. And she let a tear escape from her eye, because maybe dying young and beautiful wasn't so awesome anyway.

And then he swung hard and fast. The cold metal collided with her skull and everything went away.

Lilly Kane's corpse lay on the ground, blood turning her hair shades of crimson and black.

Her cold eyes stared across the concrete of the road at nothing.

This was the sight that Veronica Mars stumbled onto, not unknowingly, and after her had let out a cry of pain, and swayed in place, she had pulled out her gun and shot Aaron Echolls in the back of the head before he knew what hit him.

And Lilly, who was still sort of _there_, wondered if maybe she needed to die, that her freaking purpose in life was to let Aaron get shot. Because if that was, then she'd be pretty pissed off. If they needed someone to do that, couldn't they at least find an old ugly lady whom Aaron had screwed over that conveniently had really angry heavily armed bodyguards?

And Veronica sat on the ground and cried, and begged anyone who would listen to make all of this go away. She sobbed out that she wished Duncan never died, that none of this ever happened.

But it had, and no matter how much she cried, Veronica was never going to change anything. The world would never let their lives end neatly.

OK, I'm sorry about the ending. I was planning to write a semi-not depressing ending, but I was always going to have Lilly die, and I just sat down and out came _anggsstttt._ So I hope the ending didn't ruin the rest of the story for you, but it was kind of in the title. There, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Please review, if I get many reviews then I could be persuaded to write an epilogue.


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